While there are numerous exercise activities that one may participate in, exercise may be broadly broken into the categories of aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise generally refers to activities that substantially increase the heart rate and respiration of the exerciser for an extended period of time. This type of exercise is generally directed to enhancing cardiovascular performance. Such exercise usually includes low or moderate resistance to the movement of the individual. For example, aerobic exercise includes activities such as walking, running, jogging, swimming or bicycling for extended distances and extended periods of time.
Anaerobic exercise generally refers to exercise that strengthens skeletal muscles and usually involves the flexing or contraction of targeted muscles through significant exertion during a relatively short period of time and/or through a relatively small number of repetitions. For example, anaerobic exercise includes activities such as weight training, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups or a series of short sprints.
When exercising at home or in a gym, aerobic and anaerobic exercise usually involves the use of different types of equipment. For example, aerobic exercise usually involves equipment such as treadmills, ellipticals and bicycles (traditional and stationary) while anaerobic exercise often involves the use of free weights, weight stacks, or other cable and pulley resistance-type systems.
Often, individuals will plan their work-out routines to include both aerobic and anaerobic activities. For example, a person may do anaerobic exercises (e.g., weight lifting and other strength training exercises) on two or three days of the week while doing aerobic exercising (e.g., running, bicycling) on the remaining days of the week. In other instances, an individual may do both aerobic and anaerobic activities during the same day.
One of the difficulties in integrating both aerobic and anaerobic activities is the ability of an individual to efficiently and effectively track their progress. For example, many individuals use aerobic exercise equipment such as a treadmill or an elliptical machine to automatically track the calories that they've burned while using such equipment. However, it is more difficult to track or calculate such information when doing strength training exercises.
A couple of examples of equipment that has tried to combine aerobic exercising with anaerobic exercising are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,245 to Dalebout et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,563 to Dalebout et al. These patents describe a resistance-type strength training apparatus combined with, in one instance, a treadmill, and in another instance an elliptical device.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide the ability to track one's progress during exercise in a manner that is applicable to both aerobic and anaerobic activities and which is simple and effective. Additionally, it is a general desire in the industry to provide exercise equipment with new features and enhanced performance.